


Breakdown

by Curlsandcollege



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Established Relationship, F/M, Faerghus kids talking about their feelings, Friendship, that awkward moment where your best friend has a girlfriend and the dynamic completely changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25681435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curlsandcollege/pseuds/Curlsandcollege
Summary: "I’m thrilled you have a girlfriend, sincerely, honestly it’s about time. But it’s really making things complicated for me."Things are going well between Felix and Annette. Sylvain can't handle the domesticity. Felix thinks his best friend is acting like a jerk.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 10
Kudos: 53





	Breakdown

**Author's Note:**

> Let men have platonic affection for their friends 2020

“I really like Annette, you know that right?” Sylvain barely raises his voice to be heard over the sink’s running water. 

  
Felix pauses, staring at his roommate’s back while he calmly scrubs the remains of their dinner from the expensive hand-me down pan. There’s a secondary part to this statement. A lifetime of friendship has taught Felix that Sylvain never actually says what he means unless it’s wrapped in layers of pretty wrapping. They had always understood each other that way- Sylvain hid his cruelty in flirtation and empty promises. Felix protected his feelings with sharpness. 

Sylvain just keeps cleaning, speaking with a lightness, as if he doesn’t even take himself seriously “I know I’m an ass to say this but it’s hard to convince a girl that something casual is cool and fun when you walk into our apartment and are greeted by an adorable couple laying on the couch. You’re suddenly the picture of wholesome domestic bliss and that’s great. It’s great Felix! But when I’ve spent all night convincing someone that she’s so chill and different for just wanting to see where things go… and you two just look so happy… It’s sending mixed messages.”   
  
Felix bites the inside of his cheek. _Oh_ . A less generous part of him thought maybe Sylvain would start nitpicking Annette’s flaws. Maybe even call her _annoying_ or complain about the mess she left in her wake. They’d objectively gotten on like a house on fire the few times the three of them had truly hung out. Sylvain had Annette in stitches by pointing out Felix’s apparent affinity for redheads. They’d gotten a bit competitive about Jenga but mostly enjoyed Felix’s complete inability to pick the right block. Sylvain did like Annette the person. He just didn’t seem to like Annette _Felix’s girlfriend_ . Felix clenches his fist, trying to work out a little bit of the anger that had begun to pool defensively in his stomach. _Do not start a fight. He’s just being an assshole. You can handle that._   
  


Sylvain shuts the water off and turns to face Felix.   
  
“Do you see where I’m coming from on this? I’m thrilled you have a girlfriend, sincerely honestly it’s about time. But it’s really making things complicated for me. It’s just changing the dynamic of the apartment and-”   
  
Felix scans the kitchen for something to do, anything to work off this energy. But Sylvain’s neat freak tendencies impacted the way he cooked. Everything was already away, or drying on the rack, or wiped down. Cat seems to have fled the kitchen sensing whatever weirdness was flying off of Sylvain. Felix’s fight or flight instinct had always leaned heavily towards the former, but he had enough self preservation left. And Sylvain is _still_ talking.

  
“Felix it would be a win/win situation. I can tell you from experience that it’s way easier to start something if you’re already in your bedroom. Our walls are pretty thick but I can tell that nothing much is happening with the two of you…”   
  
Felix meets Sylvain’s eyes for one brief moment, sees just how unhinged Sylvain looks, and then he _does not run_ towards his bedroom. Slamming the door he finds Cat and tells him, in no uncertain terms, that his uncle is an idiot. A sad idiot.   
  
Sylvain’s groan of frustration echoes through the apartment.   
  


* * *

Of all of the things that Felix found endearing about his girlfriend, watching her watch a commercial may have been his absolute favorite.   
  
“ _Ohhhh_ _we’re a cake company, buy our stuff. It’s really overpriced and bakings not that tough. Buy our stuff, it’s so nice, buy our stuff!_ ” Annette sings happily over the generic music.   
  
Felix laughs softly and runs his thumb over her cheek. She’s getting freckles as the weather warms up. The closeness is nice, he’s always felt like he didn’t know where to put his hands but with Annette nearly everything was the right answer. He’s sprawled out on the couch with Annette. She had joked that she was his blanket and planted herself right on top of him. Felix had never really been one for TV before he had started dating Annette. He had never been one for laying still if he was being totally honest with himself. But something about Annette made him feel soft and content. She could soak up his endless energy, make him prefer stillness.   
  
“I really don’t know how you can do that to every ad” 

Annette raises her head from his chest, smiling. “That one has been playing for months Felix, I’ve had time to workshop it,” she teases. 

The show they’re watching isn’t really his thing, it’s a competition where people decorate what some might call cakes but are really more sculptures with some edible elements. He can genuinely appreciate the skill that goes into building, he likes to watch people who are good at what they do. Competence is great as a whole, but this seems to be one of the ones where they are highlighting the disaster rather than the skill.   
  
“That cake is going to fall” Annette comments off handedly into his chest, “The structure is way underbuilt for something that tall”   
  
Speaking of competence, Annette had worked for an engineer for a few years before ditching it to be a high school Physics teacher. Watching her brain size things up and solve problems was endlessly attractive to him. He leaned in to kiss her. Annette returned in kind, deepening the kiss, threading her hands through his hair. He moves his hand from where it’s resting on her hip, sliding up to feel the soft skin on her stomach.   
  
“Fe hey, I’m going to take your hair down, is that okay?” 

“You’re the one who’s going to have to deal with it getting everywhere”   
She hums affirmatively, and began unwrapping his hair tie, “Doesn’t feel in the way to me,”

  
The overhead lights in the apartment suddenly turn on. Sylvain stumbles in and toes his expensive shoes off, holding hands with a tall blonde woman.   
  
“Shhh I think my roommate is home. Oh hey sorry guys, just passing through. Would appreciate you keep that out of common areas just courtesy you know. Not kink shaming but that’s really bedroom stuff Felix, come on. Sorry babe, they’re freaks, can’t help it” Felix freezes, hand half up Annette’s sweater. 

“Hey babe you want a drink? I have a whole bar setup in my room, here come on,” Sylvain pulls his now slightly confused date towards his bedroom as she shouts out an awkward “Nice meeting you” in his direction.   
  
Annette sits up and stares in disbelief towards the empty hallway.

  
“I’m going to kill him,” Felix grumbles, pulling his girlfriend closer, tracing the bow on her sweater. She hasn’t pulled it back down, he won’t be the one to fix it. He’s trying to focus on anything other than punching his best friend in the face.   
  
“What is that about?” Annette asks softly.   
  
“Sylvain is being Sylvain, I don’t know. He’s stupid” 

  
“You seem really angry? He was trying to make his date laugh. He’s done this before.”   
  
Felix swallows. How on earth could he explain the stupidity of the conversation last night to her? Could last night even count as a conversation?   
  
“I should check on Cat, he gets pissed when I lock him in the bedroom for too long.”   
  
Annette inhales sharply. “Felix what is going on?” 

Felix jumps up and begins walking towards his room. Stupid Sylvain. Asshole Sylvain. Making everything about himself and his girls and walking in on them and making things weird and he really should let Cat out before he ends up with poop in his shoes again.   
  
Annette follows, keeping her voice as even as she can “I really don’t understand what just happened and I’m trying not to get mad at you for getting mad so if you could please just explain it to me and not run away because I really hate it when people just walk away when there’s clearly something wrong Felix!”   
  
Felix throws open his door, Cat does actually bolt out and Annette jumps out of the way to avoid getting bowled over by an admittedly unfriendly beast. She cracks a smile, “Okay I stand corrected on Cat. He does not want to be there anymore” 

  
“He’s kind of a drama queen,” Felix ushers them both inside. If their _domesticity_ is annoying Sylvain then flirting on the hallway was not going to help the situation. 

“But seriously can you not walk away from me when you’re annoyed at something? What happened back there?” Annette is clearly pissed but the way she’s standing with her hands on her hips, all five foot nothing of her, sweater bunched up awkwardly. His hair tie is still around her wrist. She’s so adorable, and she’s angry and it’s really hard to stay pissed at Sylvain when Annette is standing right there looking like _that_. 

“Sylvain is dumb. He said dumb shit, and then he walked in and made things weird and-” He muffles his aggravated groan in his hands dropping onto his bed.   
  
“Okay but what did he _say_ that made you this angry Felix?” 

Felix considers. What _did_ piss him off so much? Sylvain had been his friend for years, he had been bringing women home for years. He had offered to set Felix up literally hundreds of times. He had made snide comments about Felix’s lack of sex life more times than he could count. It had never bothered him before. Hell, now Felix _was_ actually having sex so if anything he should be less annoyed about the whole situation. Why was it so weird?   
  
Sylvain had always had a messy relationship with women and sex. He craved it, he flaunted how many women he could get to like him without any emotional investment on his end. Felix didn’t treat sex as more or less than it was. He had sex or he didn’t and it wasn’t Sylvain’s business anyway.   
  
“He said that the dynamic of the apartment was changing and us hanging out on the couch made it hard for him to hook up,” Felix covers his face with his hands and lays back on his bed. He’s so _angry_ . He wants to hit something or yell but Annette is here and she doesn’t tolerate that and he’s supposed to be better than this. He is better than this. Sylvain likes to push buttons. Why did it actually work?   
  
Felix feels his hands being peeled off his face but stares intensely at the ceiling, “Felix you know that doesn’t make any sense right?” Annette asks quietly.   
  
He does. He hasn’t been able to wrap his head around it either. He makes an affirmative noise in the back of his throat.   
  


“Is he upset you have a girlfriend and he doesn’t?” She’s running her fingers through his hair again and he’s losing the ability to form words.   
  
Annette has, seemingly, badly misread the situation. Or Sylvain. He had been so aggressively charming with her. That’s the whole problem, people so rarely realize the depths to how messed up every word that comes out of Sylvain’s mouth can be.   
  
“No. He thinks girls don’t like seeing us together before hooking up with him. And he was gross and weird about it”   
  
She kisses him, “I mean yeah, if I walked by this hotness why would I hook up with Sylvain?” She crinkles her nose and sticks out her tongue. 

He finally looks at her. “You are the best, you know that right?”   
  


Something crosses her face and she grins, “Look I’m not normally one to act out of spite but if he thinks us cuddling makes it hard for him to hook up… Let's give him something to actually complain about,” Felix is confused for a moment before Annette pulls her sweater over her head and tackles him into the bed. 

* * *

Felix and Annette had both been up for hours before Sylvain drags himself into the kitchen.   
  
“Hey, have a fun night?” Annette asks sweetly.   
  
Sylvain stares at her blankly as he kicks the kitchen step stool out of the way to grab a mug off the top shelf. He sets to making himself a cup of coffee a little louder and bigger than one would consider strictly necessary. Annette smiles and wags her eyebrows at Felix behind Sylvain’s back. Clearly she’s amused. 

Sylvain drops himself into a kitchen chair and begins to sip his coffee. “I made pancakes, you’re welcome to take some. Your date go well? She was pretty,” Annette begins to fix Sylvain a plate, gently pushing the stepstool into place to reach everything.   
  
“Thanks. No, it did not go well. She was pretty, and she left shortly after you saw her.” Sylvain scoops Cat from the floor into his lap.   
  


Felix gives Sylvain a look, “That is not Annette’s fault, don’t be a dick to her.” He’s short. Direct.   
  
“I’m not Felix. I didn’t say it was. She texted her ex from the Uber apparently. I was one step too far in her revenge plan so he came and picked her up. I served my purpose to her, night ends there” Sylvain spins his mug in his hands.   
  
Annette places the plate of pancakes in front of Sylvain and sits back in her seat.   
  
“Enjoy! Nothing some chocolate chips can’t fix.”   
  
Sylvain turns to Annette and smiles. He’s woken up enough to fake again. “Annette I say this from the deepest depths of my black heart you are the only woman in my life who has never let me down.”   
  
“I mean thank you would suffice, but I’ll take it. But really, are you okay?” She has mellowed out considerably. Felix marvels at her ability to simply change gears, let something go, see that Sylvain was not playing her game and just _drop_ it. 

“I literally won’t remember her name tomorrow. It’s fine. I’m fine. If getting turned down for sex had the ability to hurt me I’d have to fundamentally change everything about myself” Sylvain shrugs as if to say, _and that is not happening_. These little moments of self awareness are painful to watch. Sylvain knows who he is. Felix has never really understood the impulse of wanting to hurt the world for daring to harm him, but it flows through Sylvain like blood. 

Annette laughs and goes back to her tea.   
  
“But you two… Given the only cuddling I got last night was with Cat I’m guessing you had a good night?” Sylvain is stuffing food into his mouth and gives Felix a wink.   
  
“Don’t answer that” Felix snaps. 

Sylvain and Annette share a look, “So that’s a hard yes. Nice. Good job. Always rooting for you crazy kids.” He then shoves another fork full of pancakes into his mouth. “These are great. Honestly Annette you’re incredible this is incredible”  
  
Felix takes a deep breath. Sylvain is his best friend, he’s an asshole. But he’s supportive in his own way. The over complimenting is setting him on edge and he surveys as Annette and Sylvain chat while Sylvain finishes his breakfast.   
  
Sylvain loads everything into the dishwasher and quietly says “Felix can I talk to you alone? Sorry Annette, roommate stuff.” 

They end up in Sylvain’s room. It’s spotless with the bed already made. A little part of Felix wants to choose his seat carefully, but knows that Sylvain hasn’t left something dirty in the entire twenty years they’ve known each other. Any surface was just as likely defiled as any other.   
  
“What?” Felix asks, bracing himself for more snide comments or weird demands. Maybe now is the time for him to unload about Annette not putting the milk back in the exact same spot in the fridge or some other made up slight.   
  
Sylvain looks tired. “I need to apologize. I’ve been unfair to you and you haven’t done anything wrong. I heard you two fighting last night while I was sitting in awkward silence with that girl and I’m not trying to cause anything with you two.”   
  
_Oh_ . It’s weird to see Sylvain without posturing. They’re not really _talk about feelings_ friends. Sylvain knew Felix back in his crybaby phase but they were both Faerghuns at heart. Bottle up your feelings, stick them in the freezer, and then die leaving all things unsaid. But it seems like Sylvain is trying and the least Felix can do is meet him halfway. 

  
“Sylvain I know you have some weird shit with women but don’t drag Annette into this.”   
Felix regrets the words as soon as he says them. It’s a low blow but somehow Sylvain takes it in stride.   
  
“Yeah I know my relationship to women could definitely send my therapist’s kids through college if we ever get through the brother stuff but no I really like Annette. She makes you happy. It’s not about Annette,” Sylvain pauses, chewing on words. He finally takes a deep breath and says at a volume barely above a whisper,

“I’m jealous. You’re my best friend and you’re in _love_ and things are going to be different and I can be happy for you and still be sad for myself for losing that.” Sylvain has wrapped his arms around himself. It’s strange, Sylvain usually tries to take up as much space as possible, but he looks like he wants to shrink into the floor. 

His voice somehow gets smaller “I’ve never come first for anyone before and I think for a little while I came first with you. And now I don’t.” Sylvain’s face is so open, hurt.   
  
Felix’s stomach drops. Sylvain is an asshole. He’s a jerk. But he’s also Felix’s best friend and Felix has hurt him. This isn’t about Felix, it’s about Sylvain. 

Felix centers himself. A little part of him wants to cry at how hurt his best friend looks. It’s still morning. He’s not ready to deal with this. “You’re an idiot. Sylvain we’ve been best friends since I was five. I’m not replacing you.”   
  
Sylvain rubs the back of his neck, “You’re stuck with me,” He stands up suddenly and lunges for Felix, hugging him. “Gonna stick together till we die together. You’re not getting rid of me.”   
  
Felix tenses for a moment, and then returns the hug. This isn’t over. One moment of sincerity isn’t going to undo a whole lifetime of insecurity and issues. But deep down, not that deep if he’s being totally honest with himself, not deep at all if he’s really baring his soul, he doesn’t want to hurt Sylvain. 

“Good. I don’t want to get rid of you Sylvain, stop saying things like that.” It’s hardly a response, a tiny reassurance. This kind of casual affection isn’t very comforting for him, it still feels a bit like Sylvain trying to knock him off guard, but he can tell his best friend is trying to be honest with him and fix this so… Felix doesn’t squirm or fight his way out of the embrace.   
  
Sylvain finally lets him go, patting him awkwardly on the shoulders.   
  
“Good talk.” The discomfort of the moment hasn’t seemed to pass entirely through Sylvain, his movements are still small, rigid as he smooths his comforter back in place. It somehow puts Felix at ease, as if seeing the least honest person he knows (well second, but Dima is a whole other mess) _trying_ and maybe not succeeding entirely makes him want to encourage, train this muscle. 

“Hey, uh, while we’re talking,” Felix really doesn’t want to bring up his next thought. But he’s been so _angry_ lately and maybe speaking might help. _I never came first_. “I value your opinion more than anyone else’s. It might be the only opinion in the world that I do value. So when I thought you didn’t like Annette it… sucked.” 

This stops Sylvain in his tracks. Gears are turning, he’s being careful. “I wasn’t lying Felix. I do like her as a person. She’s funny, she gives me a run for my money at games. She’s a good influence on you, you’re happier. I think six months ago you would have yelled at me for any of the shit I said this week. I’m jealous that you’re close to someone like that… it’s not for me. That stuff is not for me, I don’t know how it could be. And it’s a great look on you.”   
  
Relief floods through Felix and he lets himself look at his best friend’s face. Sylvain is smiling a little, still sad, but real. They stand for a moment, air cleared a bit. This doesn’t fix everything. But Felix can feel a little reminder at the back of his mind, _make sure Sylvain knows he’s still important to you_ . He can do that. It’s not easy for him to admit he cares but he can. He does. Sylvain isn’t _nice_ , to be fair neither is he. But Sylvain is still important. 

  
Sylvain saunters into the hallway, “Now speaking of just how much I like Annette I am going to go compliment your girlfriend on the _fantastic_ things she did to your neck. Wow when I was hugging you there I was giving her a mental high five, and I think it’s time to go make that real.”   
  
No. Felix stands corrected. His best friend is just an asshole. 

**Author's Note:**

> I love nothing more than making repressed kids talk about their feelings 
> 
> Anyone else need a step stool to reach every single thing in their home? Just me?


End file.
